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The Quality of Love: Twin Sisters at the Heart of the Century
A rich family archive reveals the incredible lives and loves of two sisters who captivated Europe’s intelligentsia When her mother Celia Paget died, Ariane Bankes inherited a battered trunk stuffed with letters and diaries belonging to Celia and her twin Mamaine. This correspondence charted the remarkable lives of the Paget sisters and their friends and lovers, including Arthur Koestler, Albert Camus, Sartre and de Beauvoir, Edmund Wilson and George Orwell. The Quality of Love weaves the story of these charismatic and beautiful identical twins who overcame a meagre education to take 1930s London society by storm and move among Europe’s foremost intellectuals during the twentieth century’s most dramatic decades. Above all, it is a sparkling portrait of the deep connection between two spirited sisters. PRAISE FOR THE QUALITY OF LOVE'A sophisticated, cultured cast of writers and thinkers are convincingly woven together through the fascination of the Paget twins, who are the magnetic centre of the story... The Quality of Love conjures a treasure trove of characters who were at the heart of their age' Virginia Nicholson, author of Among the Bohemians
'Taking us from the high bohemia of 1930s London to the European intellectual scene of the 1940s and 1950s, Ariane Bankes weaves a story as spirited and alluring as the Paget sisters at its centre' Antonia Fraser
'Taking us from the high bohemia of 1930s London to the European intellectual scene of the 1940s and 1950s, Ariane Bankes weaves a story as spirited and alluring as the Paget sisters at its centre' Antonia Fraser
305 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 29, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
November 6, 2024
Today is a particularly good day to be reassured that one can still lead a life of an intellectual it girl during a time of societal decline
April 24, 2026
Book 5 for #mcnallyspring on Instagram.
I don’t even know to start with this. It just ticked so many boxes for me that I knew I would love it almost from the start.
I loved Mamaine and Celia so much. They seem like such interesting women. And all the fascinating people they knew (so many famous men who fell in love them with them immediately). I wish this book was around when I was in grad school because it touched on so many things I was reading and writing about (we were assigned Darkness at Noon for one class and I faked my way through the discussion). I want to read or reread Orwell, Camus, Koestler, Wilson; I have books by them all already.
While WWII isn’t really my thing, I really liked learning about it through Mamaine and Celia’s doings. I’ve also never been that interested in the postwar mechanics, but this was fascinating. Mamaine’s travels in particular through her relationship with Arthur Koestler.
This was just so perfect for me.
I don’t even know to start with this. It just ticked so many boxes for me that I knew I would love it almost from the start.
I loved Mamaine and Celia so much. They seem like such interesting women. And all the fascinating people they knew (so many famous men who fell in love them with them immediately). I wish this book was around when I was in grad school because it touched on so many things I was reading and writing about (we were assigned Darkness at Noon for one class and I faked my way through the discussion). I want to read or reread Orwell, Camus, Koestler, Wilson; I have books by them all already.
While WWII isn’t really my thing, I really liked learning about it through Mamaine and Celia’s doings. I’ve also never been that interested in the postwar mechanics, but this was fascinating. Mamaine’s travels in particular through her relationship with Arthur Koestler.
This was just so perfect for me.
June 29, 2026
3.5 stars, rounded up.
The Paget sisters really had amazing lives, and those lives leap out on the page here.
Alas, the book relies a bit too much on extensively quoting from written correspondence, and the book largely glosses over the long years Celia lived after the death of her twin sister Mamaine.
Still, these shortcomings don’t distract too much from the story of sisters who fought against the conventions of their time and class and largely succeeded to win lives lived on their own terms.
The Paget sisters really had amazing lives, and those lives leap out on the page here.
Alas, the book relies a bit too much on extensively quoting from written correspondence, and the book largely glosses over the long years Celia lived after the death of her twin sister Mamaine.
Still, these shortcomings don’t distract too much from the story of sisters who fought against the conventions of their time and class and largely succeeded to win lives lived on their own terms.
July 27, 2025
Love a story about woman with crazy elegant stories but wish this book said about 50% less first and last names
July 23, 2025
This book was fascinating as social history and for its literary associations. When I was 19 and waiting to go to University, I spent a year working at the British Library Lending Division in Boston Spa, living in a tiny bedsit in Harrogate. I did a lot of reading that year, including Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler and Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell, The Plague by Albert Camus, TE Lawrence’s The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (never finished) and lots else. The secondhand bookshops that I visited had multiple copies of books that had been popular over the previous thirty years: André Malraux, various Sitwells, Camus, Cyril Connolly, Simone de Beauvoir. All these authors are mentioned or were known by the beautiful Paget sisters whose independent spirits and “twinnie” reinforcement allowed them to grow by reading and association.
In 2020 I read an excellent book about surveillance and oppression in East Germany under the Communists, Stasiland by Anna Funder, an Australian lawyer and investigative journalist. Soon after I finally got round to George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia. Orwell had been a writing hero of Anna Funder (he wrote wonderfully well, of course) and she started to read more about him, leading to a book about Orwell and his relationship with his first wife entitled Wifedom. Here’s what I wrote in my review, after I read the book last year.
"Anna Funder began her exploration of Eileen O’Shaughnessy’s life as a huge admirer of Eric Blair (George Orwell) but by the time this book was complete, she must have felt differently, although she chooses not to spell that out. As so often, feet of clay emerge. Blair displayed attitudes that reflected his time and upbringing and, perhaps, Funder is applying a contemporary post #metoo yardstick. But you don’t have to live down to a set of behaviours: you can choose to be more loving and generous, acknowledging the essential support that partners provide to writers and all others obsessively bound up with their work. I listened to Burmese Days and Homage to Catalonia earlier this year, so I was unusually attuned to Orwell when I came to this book. His editing out of Eileen’s dangerous and important role in supporting him and POUM in Barcelona is shameful, his infidelities more so. What a selfish arse, and how he disdained practical capabilities. Funder’s analysis shows shows how Orwell’s (all male) biographers are complicit in airbrushing Eileen out. And yet, he is an extraordinary writer, although a lot of his work must surely have benefitted from Eileen’s intelligent help and her greater warmth and wit, particularly in Animal Farm, with which she was most closely involved. There is little sense of editorial work by his publishers. This book was long in gestation and is a personal project, which includes reflections on Anna Funder’s own experiences of male predators and her daughter’s developing attitudes.”
Orwell seems to have revelled in living in uncomfortable and inhospitable conditions. When he lived on the Isle of Jura (mentioned a couple of times in Ariane Bankes’ book) he took a boat out in terrible weather conditions with his infant son and they only narrowly survived the Corryvreckan whirlpool.
I wasn’t surprised to find that famous Cyril Connolly quote about the pram in the hall as the enemy of literary endeavour, but Mamaine Paget was another good example of how famous writers often only succeeded at the expense of someone else who kept house and did the typing, often some poor smitten woman, although there were strong intellectual underpinnings too with Mamaine and Eileen O’Shaughnessy.
The House of Paget. I checked the family tree and William Paget, 1st Baron Paget was the ambitious accountant who learned the skills that led to his being a successful courtier and fixer under none other than Thomas Cromwell, that arch fixer for Wolsey and Henry VIII. The 1st Marquess was ennobled after victory at Waterloo - he was the subject of the famous anecdote when the Duke of Wellington noticed that his officer's leg had been blown off by a passing cannon ball, but he remained seated on his horse: “My God, sir, you seem to have lost your leg!” Henry Paget, looking down: “My God, so I have!” He survived. A later descendant was the 5th Marquess who spent much of the family fortune on theatrical extravaganzas and outrageous costumes, turning the chapel at the family’s castle at Plas Newydd into the Gaiety Theatre.
A well-written family memoir by an experienced editor.
In 2020 I read an excellent book about surveillance and oppression in East Germany under the Communists, Stasiland by Anna Funder, an Australian lawyer and investigative journalist. Soon after I finally got round to George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia. Orwell had been a writing hero of Anna Funder (he wrote wonderfully well, of course) and she started to read more about him, leading to a book about Orwell and his relationship with his first wife entitled Wifedom. Here’s what I wrote in my review, after I read the book last year.
"Anna Funder began her exploration of Eileen O’Shaughnessy’s life as a huge admirer of Eric Blair (George Orwell) but by the time this book was complete, she must have felt differently, although she chooses not to spell that out. As so often, feet of clay emerge. Blair displayed attitudes that reflected his time and upbringing and, perhaps, Funder is applying a contemporary post #metoo yardstick. But you don’t have to live down to a set of behaviours: you can choose to be more loving and generous, acknowledging the essential support that partners provide to writers and all others obsessively bound up with their work. I listened to Burmese Days and Homage to Catalonia earlier this year, so I was unusually attuned to Orwell when I came to this book. His editing out of Eileen’s dangerous and important role in supporting him and POUM in Barcelona is shameful, his infidelities more so. What a selfish arse, and how he disdained practical capabilities. Funder’s analysis shows shows how Orwell’s (all male) biographers are complicit in airbrushing Eileen out. And yet, he is an extraordinary writer, although a lot of his work must surely have benefitted from Eileen’s intelligent help and her greater warmth and wit, particularly in Animal Farm, with which she was most closely involved. There is little sense of editorial work by his publishers. This book was long in gestation and is a personal project, which includes reflections on Anna Funder’s own experiences of male predators and her daughter’s developing attitudes.”
Orwell seems to have revelled in living in uncomfortable and inhospitable conditions. When he lived on the Isle of Jura (mentioned a couple of times in Ariane Bankes’ book) he took a boat out in terrible weather conditions with his infant son and they only narrowly survived the Corryvreckan whirlpool.
I wasn’t surprised to find that famous Cyril Connolly quote about the pram in the hall as the enemy of literary endeavour, but Mamaine Paget was another good example of how famous writers often only succeeded at the expense of someone else who kept house and did the typing, often some poor smitten woman, although there were strong intellectual underpinnings too with Mamaine and Eileen O’Shaughnessy.
The House of Paget. I checked the family tree and William Paget, 1st Baron Paget was the ambitious accountant who learned the skills that led to his being a successful courtier and fixer under none other than Thomas Cromwell, that arch fixer for Wolsey and Henry VIII. The 1st Marquess was ennobled after victory at Waterloo - he was the subject of the famous anecdote when the Duke of Wellington noticed that his officer's leg had been blown off by a passing cannon ball, but he remained seated on his horse: “My God, sir, you seem to have lost your leg!” Henry Paget, looking down: “My God, so I have!” He survived. A later descendant was the 5th Marquess who spent much of the family fortune on theatrical extravaganzas and outrageous costumes, turning the chapel at the family’s castle at Plas Newydd into the Gaiety Theatre.
A well-written family memoir by an experienced editor.
September 7, 2025
After the London literary socialite Celia Paget Goodman died in 2002, her daughter, Ariane Bankes, inherited a battered trunk stuffed with letters and diaries that belonged to Celia and her identical twin sister, Mamaine. This correspondence revealed the remarkable lives the twins spent amongst a glittering cast of characters who were at the heart of their age, including Arthur Koestler, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and George Orwell.
Throughout a secluded childhood in the country with their widowed father, boarding school, and Swiss finishing school, they remained inseparable. As debutantes, they took 1930s London by storm, rejecting conventional suitors in favor of life together amongst the city’s bohemian intelligentsia. During the war and after, they were at the side of Europe’s foremost intellectuals—as coworkers, close friends, and lovers.
This captivating memoir is an intimate portrait of a lost age and the male thinkers who dominated it, as seen through women’s eyes. Above all, it’s the tale of two devoted sisters, remarkable women
Throughout a secluded childhood in the country with their widowed father, boarding school, and Swiss finishing school, they remained inseparable. As debutantes, they took 1930s London by storm, rejecting conventional suitors in favor of life together amongst the city’s bohemian intelligentsia. During the war and after, they were at the side of Europe’s foremost intellectuals—as coworkers, close friends, and lovers.
This captivating memoir is an intimate portrait of a lost age and the male thinkers who dominated it, as seen through women’s eyes. Above all, it’s the tale of two devoted sisters, remarkable women
Read
April 13, 2026all the stars are here
May 15, 2024
This book provides an interesting and engaging insight into the lives of identical twins Celia and Mamaine Paget.
If you would like to read my full review please visit my blog at:
https://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogsp...
If you would like to read my full review please visit my blog at:
https://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogsp...
June 8, 2024
3.5 rounded up. Interesting vignettes about some famous authors but not much depth.
June 29, 2024
Fascinating lives, very enjoyable and informative.
May 22, 2025
“Dick [Wyndham] played for the twins the role that Esmond Romilly had played for Decca, opening doors into a fresh new world from which they never returned.” (p.33)
“She [Mamaine] was constantly amused by his [Arthur Koestler's] comic semi-mastery of the English language - there was a (possibly apocryphal) story of Arthur, newly arrived in England, backing like
a scalded cat out of a public telephone box after reading the instruction (as he thought) to ‘Please put your penis in the slot’.” (p.69)
“Sometimes she looks frightened or a little out of focus, with the two sides of her face not in harmony: one pert, the other chagrined; sometimes on guard and alert, like a keen-eyed quiet baby fox that makes quick silent darting movements; sometimes lovely with delicate colouring or electric with the kind of intensity in which feeling and intellect mix." (p.77-78)
“She [Mamaine] was constantly amused by his [Arthur Koestler's] comic semi-mastery of the English language - there was a (possibly apocryphal) story of Arthur, newly arrived in England, backing like
a scalded cat out of a public telephone box after reading the instruction (as he thought) to ‘Please put your penis in the slot’.” (p.69)
“Sometimes she looks frightened or a little out of focus, with the two sides of her face not in harmony: one pert, the other chagrined; sometimes on guard and alert, like a keen-eyed quiet baby fox that makes quick silent darting movements; sometimes lovely with delicate colouring or electric with the kind of intensity in which feeling and intellect mix." (p.77-78)
May 5, 2025
Oh the drunken promiscuousness of the literary lions of yesteryear! Ariane Bankes gives a warm and lively account of the Celia and Mamaine Paget, who were born in 1916. Both twins suffered from asthma, and Mamaine died of it in 1954. Celia survived her until 2002, but Bankes devotes only a few pages to her mother's life after Mamaine's premature death. The bulk of the book focuses on Mamaine's long involvement with, and short marriage to Arthur Koestler. The couple shared a house in rural Wales, then another one on the banks of the Seine near Fontainebleau. They also lived briefly in the U.S. (Bucks County, Pennsylvania) and in the newly created state of Israel. Overlapping with her relationship with Koestler, Mamaine had a short affair with Camus which blossomed into a strong friendship. Celia also had a rich love-life. Freddie Ayer and Jeremy Hutchinson were her most significant lovers before she settled down with Arthur Goodman, father of the author. George Orwell proposed to her in vain but remained a close friend. Many other Famous Men have walk-on parts in this breezy saga (Malraux, Sartre, Cyril Connolly, Edmund Wilson etc). This book gives all the guilty pleasures of a good gossip without yielding any new insights into its illustrious cast of characters. Of the inner lives of the twins themselves we learn very little.
June 18, 2025
Ok and factual tale of the title sisters. Don't believe the rest of the title is accurate. "Heart"? This century with two world wars, revolutions and entire reversals in social mores? These women were more entirely their own class and "era" or "eyes" of reactions.
Loved the photos (dozens and nearly on every other page) and thought the copy itself was tell, tell, tell but not revealing of core to either sister. Perhaps such depth cannot be captured by a daughter's words? Probably not in the way a Nancy or Jessica Mitford could tell it.
Mitfords' crossover and some of the place locations were far more depth interesting, IMHO, than these twins or any of their partners. IMHO, most of the men sounded infantile. Even if you recognize their names. Camus, Orwell etc.
Social and moral decline in its earliest masquerades and incarnations which continue downhill yet! Seldom if never 21st century lived within discourse of 4 or 5 different languages though. Now it is the same 3 or 4 swear words in different grammatical uses that trends as "smart".
Loved the photos (dozens and nearly on every other page) and thought the copy itself was tell, tell, tell but not revealing of core to either sister. Perhaps such depth cannot be captured by a daughter's words? Probably not in the way a Nancy or Jessica Mitford could tell it.
Mitfords' crossover and some of the place locations were far more depth interesting, IMHO, than these twins or any of their partners. IMHO, most of the men sounded infantile. Even if you recognize their names. Camus, Orwell etc.
Social and moral decline in its earliest masquerades and incarnations which continue downhill yet! Seldom if never 21st century lived within discourse of 4 or 5 different languages though. Now it is the same 3 or 4 swear words in different grammatical uses that trends as "smart".
September 6, 2025
Clever posh girls, not as unstable as several of the Mitford girls, blessedly without a tendency to love fascists or anti-semites, and more genuinely intellectual. But what can two aristocratic beauties do if not allowed to go to university or be expected to do more than be socially decorative, if they don't have that touch of genuine crazy that Nancy Mitford caught so well in her books? The Pagets, clever, kind, well-meaning, get lower level jobs in Lit Circle and government trades, get married, be famous men's mistresses - or not which takes up most of the book. They both have asthma and it turns into a kind of 19th century consumptive story, which is a bit sad, but not as bad as their promise fizzling rather. Kudos to Celia's daughter Ariane for giving us this rather genteel memoir, which is entertaining, opaque and frustrating by turns.
February 27, 2026
oh to be an intellectual it girl adored by famous authors and friends. this was a fantastic social history about the literary world of europe during and after ww2, focused on the dazzling paget twins, Celia and Mamaine, whose dazzling lives, correspondence, and love affairs created a deep dive into an important moment in history. Celia's daughter, the author, wrote this captivating book and what a love letter it is to her mother and her aunt! family memoir, gossip, social history, literary icons like Orwell and Camus, post-war Europe...what is not to love! Loved learning about these icon women
I'm in my non-fiction era right now!
I'm in my non-fiction era right now!
June 25, 2025
4⭐️! “I am terribly sorry you are having such a hellish time with flats, jobs, etc. yes there is no getting away from it, life is hell most of the time, and personally I think it is best to realize that and not expect much” (185).
This book is exactly as its title states, dazzling. Whirlwind romances with famous authors and artists at literally every turn. How can two sisters receive so many proposals between the two of them? Astounding.
This book is exactly as its title states, dazzling. Whirlwind romances with famous authors and artists at literally every turn. How can two sisters receive so many proposals between the two of them? Astounding.
August 14, 2025
This book was a wonderful read. The laundry list of well known players (Camus, Orwell, Sartre, de Beauvoir) are given a new dimension from what we already know of them by the proximity of the author. The political back drop is astounding in its sameness to the one we know today (N/S Korea, Israel/Palestine, Russia’s overbearing presence and its treatment of Ukraine). All told with a long lost glitz, glamour and appreciation of intellectualism and a well made Martini!
September 16, 2025
😮 The most dazzling portion of The Dazzling Paget Sisters is the first several chapters when the twins are young and have only each other to confide in. Their closeness is palpable and I love the English countryside setting and time period of the 1920s and 30s.
Later in the book, despite affairs with notables like Albert Camus and George Orwell, well, I just didn't care all that much. Have to say I didn't finish.
#nonfiction #WWII #twinsies #sisters #booksbooksbooks
Later in the book, despite affairs with notables like Albert Camus and George Orwell, well, I just didn't care all that much. Have to say I didn't finish.
#nonfiction #WWII #twinsies #sisters #booksbooksbooks
July 14, 2025
Fascinating story of these twin girls life and how they came to know so many influential people in Europe during the 1940s. They were beautiful and bright. It’s amazing how the daughter of Celia was able to gather so much information on their lives.
I did stop annals way through as I couldn’t keep all the players straight and perhaps as there was so much detail.
I did stop annals way through as I couldn’t keep all the players straight and perhaps as there was so much detail.
October 17, 2025
I didn't really care for this book. The store is mainly about Mamaine and I was thinkng it would be about both sisters. Since the writer is the daughter of Celia and only had Celia's letters from Mamaine to base the store on I guess that makes sense. Also, there is a lot of name dropping of people in the Literary world of Europe that I am. not familiar with.
September 13, 2025
Reeally skimmed it as it was mostly uninteresting except the love affairs and debaucherous nights with notable names
Hard not to compare it to Black Sun by Geoffrey Wolff which is one if my favorite books where Wolffs writing is as incredible as the story is fun and scandalous
Hard not to compare it to Black Sun by Geoffrey Wolff which is one if my favorite books where Wolffs writing is as incredible as the story is fun and scandalous
April 20, 2025
would have been more interesting if the author was not the daughter; clear allusions to the mitford sisters and all that has been written about them without the paget sisters being as interesting
July 19, 2025
2.5. McNally éditons books always deceive me. Covers are better than the content. There were some interesting cameos and interesting to read about the twin connection, but not much more.
March 10, 2026
It's nice to be romanced by writers,
Though they're not the easiest partners.
Though they're not the easiest partners.
Read
May 9, 2026Near North Chicago Public Library Branch May Bookclub selection
Did Not Finish
July 21, 2026I rarely don’t finish a book but this one did not dazzle me.
August 9, 2026
Fascinating
May 5, 2025
An interesting glimpse into the lives of two women who interacted with seemingly all of the great thinkers of their day, but at times a little slow.
May 14, 2024
When Ariane Bankes' mother, Celia died, she left behind a battered trunk stuffed full of memories that shone a light on the lives of two remarkable women - the Paget twins, Celia and her twin sister, Mamaine. In The Quality of Love, Bankes employs this archive to piece together the history of these women, from earliest childhood, showing how they came to be involved with the intellectual movers and shakers of the 20th century.
Bankes uses her mother's photographs, letters and diaries to cover a lot of historical ground in a very engaging way, weaving through the decades to tell a tale of two bold and beautiful women who eschewed societal conventions to follow their own path, even if this meant they were not always happy with the choices they made - especially when it came to their passionate, and tempestuous relationships. This is almost like a tour through the annals of modern history - society balls of the Roaring Twenties; glamorous sojourns on the Continent in the 1930s; the grim determination and austerity of World War II; the Cold War years; Middle Eastern conflict... we take a stroll through them all, led by the vivacious Paget twins.
Throughout, Bankes details how the sisters carved out a place for themselves at the heart of political, philosophical, and literary circles, rubbing shoulders (and sometimes conducting torrid affairs) with leading figures of the intelligentsia, such as Orwell, Camus and Koestler. You can really feel the vibrancy of the world in which they lived, where the ideas that shaped the 20th century were fervently discussed. They were no slouches when it came to their own careers and intellectual pursuits either, even though their health was often fragile.
This book is essentially an emotional love letter from Bankes to her mother, and the aunt she never knew, and it incorporates so much history and social history in the telling. The bond that Celia and Mamaine shared, and the more intimate sides of the lives of their friends and family (many of them very famous characters), really stand out and make this book so readable - especially via the informal snaps and snippets of personal letters concerned with affairs of the heart and matters of sickness and health.
Fascinating, and poignant, I easily consumed this in an afternoon, and it sent me down lots of rabbit holes about the people Celia and Mamaine knew, and the events they lived through. Highly recommend if you enjoy books that offer intriguing insight into historical context through the hidden lives of extraordinary women.
Bankes uses her mother's photographs, letters and diaries to cover a lot of historical ground in a very engaging way, weaving through the decades to tell a tale of two bold and beautiful women who eschewed societal conventions to follow their own path, even if this meant they were not always happy with the choices they made - especially when it came to their passionate, and tempestuous relationships. This is almost like a tour through the annals of modern history - society balls of the Roaring Twenties; glamorous sojourns on the Continent in the 1930s; the grim determination and austerity of World War II; the Cold War years; Middle Eastern conflict... we take a stroll through them all, led by the vivacious Paget twins.
Throughout, Bankes details how the sisters carved out a place for themselves at the heart of political, philosophical, and literary circles, rubbing shoulders (and sometimes conducting torrid affairs) with leading figures of the intelligentsia, such as Orwell, Camus and Koestler. You can really feel the vibrancy of the world in which they lived, where the ideas that shaped the 20th century were fervently discussed. They were no slouches when it came to their own careers and intellectual pursuits either, even though their health was often fragile.
This book is essentially an emotional love letter from Bankes to her mother, and the aunt she never knew, and it incorporates so much history and social history in the telling. The bond that Celia and Mamaine shared, and the more intimate sides of the lives of their friends and family (many of them very famous characters), really stand out and make this book so readable - especially via the informal snaps and snippets of personal letters concerned with affairs of the heart and matters of sickness and health.
Fascinating, and poignant, I easily consumed this in an afternoon, and it sent me down lots of rabbit holes about the people Celia and Mamaine knew, and the events they lived through. Highly recommend if you enjoy books that offer intriguing insight into historical context through the hidden lives of extraordinary women.
February 1, 2026
The Paget Sister Twins were Celia Mary (7 September 1916-14 October 2002), and Mamaine (7 September 1916-2 June 1954), were socialites part of the literati. Their parents were Georgina Byng and Eric Paget. They were initially raised in rural Suffolk. Their childhood was one of happy isolation. Their mother died a week after they were born and their 50-year-old father employed a superb, loving nanny. Both loved music and literature, and listened entranced to their father’s pianola recordings and when he read to them from the Victorian classics. The only cloud was the chronic asthma that would bedevil both their lives. When the twins were 12 this blissful existence ended. Their father died, and they became the legal wards of their maternal uncle, a rich, testy man with a charming, kind French wife. Wrenched away from all they've known and sent to several boarding schools, they became even more interdependent. Few could tell them apart. As debutantes, this ‘double exposure’ enhanced their glamour, making them the sensation of the London Season. Yet they yearned for an intellectual life and were not interested in any of the men of their set.
Suddenly the gates to the kind of existence they really wanted swung open, thanks to Mamaine’s first lover Dick Wyndham. He was 20 years older than the twins, rich, generous, twice divorced and bohemian. Made independent at 21 by a legacy from their father, with shared tastes and near-telepathic understanding of one another, the twins travelled constantly, exchanging correspondence with their now wide circle of friends. Both sisters had the enviable gift of turning former or would-be lovers into close friends, resulting in a complicated pavane of interlocking relationships with some of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century such as Arthur Koestler, George Orwell, Albert Camus etc. In 1942, Celia first married Charles Cecil Patrick Kirwan but he was an alcoholic. In 1954,Celia remarried to Arthur Goodman, and had 2 children: author Ariane Bankes and Mark Eden. Mamaine wed Arthur Koestler in 1950,but sadly died of an asthma attack in 1954.Celia and Mamaine were vivacious, gregarious, intelligent, bold and fortunate.
Suddenly the gates to the kind of existence they really wanted swung open, thanks to Mamaine’s first lover Dick Wyndham. He was 20 years older than the twins, rich, generous, twice divorced and bohemian. Made independent at 21 by a legacy from their father, with shared tastes and near-telepathic understanding of one another, the twins travelled constantly, exchanging correspondence with their now wide circle of friends. Both sisters had the enviable gift of turning former or would-be lovers into close friends, resulting in a complicated pavane of interlocking relationships with some of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century such as Arthur Koestler, George Orwell, Albert Camus etc. In 1942, Celia first married Charles Cecil Patrick Kirwan but he was an alcoholic. In 1954,Celia remarried to Arthur Goodman, and had 2 children: author Ariane Bankes and Mark Eden. Mamaine wed Arthur Koestler in 1950,but sadly died of an asthma attack in 1954.Celia and Mamaine were vivacious, gregarious, intelligent, bold and fortunate.
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